"As a system scientist and a nurse, my patient is now the hospital." –Elizabeth Johnson on HID2.0 On today's podcast episode, Cheryl sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Johnson (PhD, MS-CRM, RN)—Assistant Professor at Montana State University's Mark & Robyn Jones College of Nursing, host of Designing Care On-Air, and incoming President of the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design (NIHD). Elizabeth lives at the intersection of nursing, technology, and design, with a passion for designing healthcare systems—especially for rural, frontier, remote, and tribal communities where distance and infrastructure shape what care can lo...
"As a system scientist and a nurse, my patient is now the hospital." –Elizabeth Johnson on HID2.0
On today's podcast episode, Cheryl sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Johnson (PhD, MS-CRM, RN)—Assistant Professor at Montana State University's Mark & Robyn Jones College of Nursing, host of Designing Care On-Air, and incoming President of the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design (NIHD). Elizabeth lives at the intersection of nursing, technology, and design, with a passion for designing healthcare systems—especially for rural, frontier, remote, and tribal communities where distance and infrastructure shape what care can look and feel like.
In this conversation, Elizabeth shares the "permission" moment that changed her path into healthcare design, her research using mobile and wearable technology to support clinical trial participant safety, and the powerful insights coming from The Kind Room Project—where children use art to show what a healthcare space looks like when it helps them feel calm, safe, and brave. Along the way, she offers a reframe you won't forget: "My patient is now the hospital."
In this episode, we cover
-
The moment that changed everything: being asked (for the first time) what she thought—as a nurse—during a design challenge.
-
The Kind Room Project: using art-based prompts so kids can show what "healthcare that feels kind" looks like.
-
A surprising insight from children's drawings: many prefer softer, muted tones over the stereotypical "primary colors."
-
Why rural hospitals are a "living, breathing apparatus" of community life—and what designers miss if they only visit during business hours.
-
Wearables + clinical trials: how technology can help rural/remote participants stay safe and supported closer to home.
-
"Day two design" (after the ribbon cutting): where latent errors show up—and how to ask great questions, not just good ones.
-
The mindset shift she wants to normalize: making friends with the unknown.
Memorable quotes
-
"My patient is now the hospital."
-
"Advocacy through vision and visibility."
-
"Permission is granted. It's a yes—you belong."
-
"Make friends with the unknown."
Links & ways to connect
Elizabeth Johnson's email:
elizabeth.johnson37@montana.edu
Elizabeth LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-johnson-phd-ms-crm-rn-833590167/
Montana State University Nursing directory (Elizabeth):
https://www.montana.edu/nursing/directory/bozeman/2344665/elizabeth-johnson
MSU CAIRHE "Johnson Project" page:
https://www.montana.edu/cairhe/other-investigators/johnson/
NIHD (Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design):
https://nursingihd.com/
Elizabeth's NIHD bio:
https://nursingihd.com/elizabeth-johnson-bio
Join NIHD:
https://nursingihd.com/join
Designing Care On-Air (Apple Podcasts):
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designing-care-on-air/id1696746547
Kind Room / design tool site (as mentioned):
https://designkind.art
If you liked this episode…
Share it with a nurse, designer, architect, engineer, or administrator who cares about building healthcare environments that feel more human—and more kind.
Our Industry Partners
The world is changing quickly. The Center for Health Design is committed to providing the healthcare design and senior living design industries with the latest research, best practices and innovations. The Center can help you solve today's biggest healthcare challenges and make a difference in care, safety, medical outcomes, and the bottom line. Find out more at healthdesign.org.
Additional support for this podcast comes from our industry partners:
Learn more about how to become a Certified Healthcare Interior Designer® by visiting the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers at: https://aahid.org/.
Connect to a community interested in supporting clinician involvement in design and construction of the built environment by visiting The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design at https://www.nursingihd.com/
------------
The world is changing quickly. The Center for Health Design is committed to providing the healthcare design and senior living design industries with the latest research, best practices and innovations. The Center can help you solve today's biggest healthcare challenges and make a difference in care, safety, medical outcomes, and the bottom line. Find out more at healthdesign.org.
Additional support for this podcast comes from our industry partners:
Learn more about how to become a Certified Healthcare Interior Designer® by visiting the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers at: https://aahid.org/.
Connect to a community interested in supporting clinician involvement in design and construction of the built environment by visiting The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design at https://www.nursingihd.com/
FEATURED PRODUCT
Porcelanosa are at the forefront of sustainable manufacturing – clients not only expect this of their suppliers but are increasingly asking to see the receipts.
Let's unpack this, did you know that hundreds of preeminent members of The American Institute of Architects – The AIA – have signed the AIA Materials Pledge? The Pledge is aligned with the Mindful Materials Common Materials Framework – the CMF. This is just one, very impressive example of how the movement to support decision making for building product selection has reached new highs. We can see these explained as 5 pillars of sustainability:
I mentioned the receipts -How do we track the progress of these principles and values? Without measurement, there's no clear path to improvement or accountability.
The Mindful Materials CMF maps a framework of over 650 sustainability factors across those five key areas.
A cornerstone of material health transparency is an Environmental Product Declaration EPD report. The best are independently verified for accuracy by third party certification bodies – a company cannot mark their own report cards. EPDs are highly technical documents containing scientific information on the embodied carbon used to manufacture products. I have just read and included here an EPD for a Porcelanosa Tile – there are upwards of 1000 data inputs to quantify its climate impact.
Porcelanosa offer the confidence and certainty of knowing that every tile, every slab of XTONE porcelain or KRION solid surface has a Product Specific EPD – when architects and designers work with these materials they are making a robust decision to meet their sustainable design goals.
To learn more about how Porcelanosa help their customers design for resiliency, here is a link to their comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility Report: https://www.porcelanosa.com/en/corporate-social-responsibility/
